Letters to the Editor: Sept. 3

Sep. 2, 2012 - 02:27PM
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Biased on pensions

Shame on you for allowing such a biased story as “21,000 federal retirees earn six-figure pensions” [Aug. 20 issue].

Yes, some Civil Service Retirement System retirees may make very good pensions, but how much did they contribute during their employment? A balanced article would have researched what the retirees contributed during their careers. You do know CSRS-covered employees had to contribute to the CSRS plan in lieu of Social Security payments, don’t you?

— Danny Goss Mustang, Okla.

Toxic military leadership

When leaders go bad I am dumbfounded as a retired Army officer. We have Army Gen. William Ward of Africa Command misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses over three years, substantiated by the inspector general, according to news reports.

We have Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly of the Missile Defense Agency bullying dozens of staffers and having good employees leave [“O’Reilly to be replaced as missile agency chief,” Aug. 13 issue].

What else in the Army requires an IG investigation that affects morale, scarce financial resources and, most of all, combat readiness? I’d like to know what Army senior leadership is doing to ascertain the existence of toxic leaders and poor stewards of our precious assets.

I recommend a 360-degree review of senior officers to smoke out failures of leadership.

— Retired Army Lt. Col. Patrick Turner Roanoke, Texas

Boost fight against ALS

The Veterans Affairs Department has come a long way in terms of medical services, benefits and compensation for veterans with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, since I was diagnosed in June 2009. But there is more to do.

Some 1,400 of the 3,600 veterans with ALS who received care from VA hospitals during the past four fiscal years died because there is no effective treatment or cure yet.

Today, there are several drugs and two stem cell treatments that are proving safe and effective in clinical trials.

Why is VA sitting back and waiting when it could be actively working with the Food and Drug Administration and drug-treatment developers to find a treatment or cure for ALS?